


Mal de Ojo

by writing_ramblings



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blackwatch Era, Hanahaki Disease, Kinda, M/M, McReyes Week, One-Sided Attraction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 13:04:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10742262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writing_ramblings/pseuds/writing_ramblings
Summary: Reyes starts coughing up flowers.





	Mal de Ojo

**Author's Note:**

> This was my entry for the McReyes spring event, decided to post it here after a while.
> 
> The theme was 'Bloom'

The first wave of coughs attacked him during the night. He was dreaming away the hours after drifting where he first laid without meaning to. The days have been long and his sleep has been suffering. He sat on the couch in the rec room after arriving at base with the plan to go over a few reports, but his body begged him to lie down. He obeyed. Told himself it’d be for a few minutes. Those minutes grew into hours.

His lungs tighten in the middle of his slumber. He had felt a comfortable weight on top of him a few hours ago. But that wasn’t the purpose. That presence had been comforting and kept him sleeping. But from inside, his lungs started burn and couldn’t give him the air he needed. He starts to cough awake and one of his hands covers his mouth with a fist. His chest jumps uncontrollably and he parts his legs. The weight on top of him shifts and groans.

“Boss?” Jesse mumbles from his chest as he lifts his head. “What’s wrong?”

Gabriel believes the coughing ceases, but then Jesse looks at him. His eyes are dim after a day of work. His hair is messy from sweating under his cowboy hat—which is nowhere in sight at the moment. His tactical vest is also gone, leaving him in a black long sleeves shirt, with the buttons over his chest opened.

He wants to scold Jesse, ask him where he got the nerve to lie on top of his commander while he slept. But the fit starts again and Gabriel pushes him aside to sit up. He uses both of his hands to cover his mouth. He can taste smoking wood on his tongue. He feels flakes of ashes tickling his throat every time he coughs.

“Gabe?” Jesse says with concerned voice as he sits up, but Gabriel stands before he moves closer.

“I’m fine, McCree,” Gabriel scolds with his mouth covered and walks away from the rec room. Leaving behind his coffee mug, beanie and reports.

He keeps coughing the whole way to his office. Luckily there’s no one around to question him or give him worried looks. There’s something stuck in his throat, not ashes, but something bigger and softer. He doesn’t make it to his office before he has to support himself from the wall. He grabs his own throat, wanting to feel whatever it is that’s coming, but he only feels his Adam’s apple, bobbing as he coughs or tries to swallow.

He coughs a few more times and his throat stops feeling clogged. There’s something silky and wide on his hand. It shines in yellow with some white fading at the thinner end. He stares down at it without moving from where he stands. It’s a flower petal.

He punches his code to enter his office and makes sure to lock it after him. The lights fade in as he walks towards his desk.

“Athena,” he calls without taking his eyes off the petal. “I will be giving you a sample of a flower. Tell me its name.” He places the petal on top of a pad by his computer and a blue light shines underneath it. He rests back on his leather chair, watching the scanning take process as his computer turns on by itself. The blue light vanishes and his computer flashes a search for Arizona Poppy.

“Is this what you wanted, commander?” Athena’s voice rings all over the room.

“Yes, thank you. That’d be all.”

He looks at pictures of the flower. They match the petal that sits beside his hand. The wildflower is vibrant yellow, almost orange, with a red basal. They’re also known as the ‘summer poppy’ and ‘orange caltrop’. It’s known to reside in Arizona, in deserts, in the sand after heavy rain, along roadsides, and in open, sunny fields. These wildflowers are also known as ‘ _mal de ojo_ ’, due to its pollen causing some people to tear up. Why would a flower petal, of any kind, grow in his lungs?

Gabriel sighs as he stands up and rubs the back of his neck. His throat feels a little sore, but there’s no sign of incoming coughs. He groans when he remembers a story he once heard from the Shimada kid while he spoke to Jesse on their way to a mission. There’s a disease that causes people to cough flower petals. He doesn’t remember the name, but knows this happens when the person involved is stuck in a one-sided love.

Gabriel scoffs to the fable, because that’s all it is. A myth, probably made up by someone who suffered from never finding the one and wanted some sympathy. Still, Gabriel sees the petal resting on his desk. It’s just not possible. He believes he would know if he was in love, too.

He gives up and sits back onto the chair. He searches ‘coughing flowers’ and hesitates to proceed the search. When he does, he gets a name: _Hanahaki Disease_. An illness born from one-sided love, like he remembers. He reads stories of people who coughed flowers. Some knew they were in love, others suspected, very few did not know. Being in love is something sickening, in Gabriel’s eyes. He would be able tell if it was happening. He expects to feel butterflies in is stomach, nestling in his ribcage and overcrowding his heart. He would feel a heat radiating over his skin when he was near that person.

The only heat he can remembers is when he’s under the sun in missions. When he’s surrounded by his Blackwatch agents. He pictures McCree over open fields in the dessert. The kid in the highway of Route 66 where he picked him up. The sun was searing over them and his skin glistening with sweat. He feels warm when he drinks at night, in the comfort of his room or office. Or when he’s out with the same agents. McCree’s also there. He’s always around alcohol since Gabriel allowed him after turning 21.

One time, he was left behind with Jesse on a mission. He ordered his agents to leave while he and Jesse finished their targets off. He remembers butterflies in his stomach, but these butterflies burned inside of him. Their wings hit his ribcage like bullets. Why would he see his nerves like butterflies? He was full of adrenaline. His blood pumped through his veins, boiling hot. His heartbeat raced as fast as his arms moved killing hostiles. The only person around he could trust was Jesse McCree, just turned 25 and holding his six shooter like his life depended on it.

He gets up from his desk and doesn’t think about how heavy, yet pleasing he felt his chest while he slept. That was the moment Jesse crawled on top of him and drifted to sleep again, being too tired to give it a second thought. The moment before he started coughing out flowers.

He shuts his computer off and doesn’t get to read the stories that mention death. He doesn’t read how love can kill you by leaving you breathless.

\---

Gabriel keeps coughing while he pretends to ignore it. Jack and Ana always ask if he’s fine. He lies and says it’s a cold. He tries to hold it when he’s around Jesse, when it seems to happen most. His heart stops when his lungs clench and the coughs spur out of him. He tastes ashes, death and despair before the bloom. The petals fall delicately from his tongue and into his palms. There used to be just one, but now two come out after a fit. The look Jesse gives him doesn’t help. He’s worried and wishes to help. He wishes to know if his commander is fine. Gabriel feels careless by doing this. Not only will Jesse suffer if he gets into a fit in the middle of a mission, but his whole team will. He’s their commander and they look up to him. They might be able to take care of themselves, but they are under his watch. If he fails them, he mind as well let this disease take him to his grave.

\--

Gabriel takes a day off to watch the sun setting from the roof. A cigar in one hand and a cold beer in the other. He left his comm and cell phone behind, as well as told Athena to not tell anyone he’s coordinates. Yet, that has never stopped Jesse from finding his commander. He finds him in a state Gabriel was avoiding anyone seeing him again after a week.

Gabriel coughs petals, as bright as the sunset painted in the sky. There’s five on his palm, making the whole flower.

“He loves me,” he starts as he grins and grabs one petal. His cigar dangles between his lips. He releases the petal and watches it for a second as the breeze claims it. “He loves me not. He loves me. He loves me not.” He hesitates and watches the lonely petal. Then he laughs and lets the wind take it.

“You drop something.”

The voice startles him and he looks back to see Jesse. He holds the petal between his fingers as he approaches his commander. Jesse looks gorgeous under the setting sun. His skin looks dimmer, matching with the colors above them. His smile brightens with the light and his eyes shines like gemstones.

Gabriel takes a deep breath when his heart clenches. He feels like he won’t be able to breathe again. Then the coughing begins.

Jesse sits beside him in a second and rubs the man’s back with his prosthetic hand.

“You alright, boss?”

“I’m fine,” Gabriel responds as he coughs.

Jesse watches him and Gabriel wants to jump off the roof. If Jesse remembers the tales Genji told him, he will be aware.

“Who’s the lucky boy or girl?” Jesse elbows him and Gabriel huffs a laugh.

“Please, it’s just a cold.”

“Sure.”

Gabriel starts coughing again and Jesse pats his back. His expressions tenses the longer it goes on. Ashes also spit out of Gabriel between petals. He wants to look at Jesse, tell his stupid heart he at least has the man by his side, to be satisfied with that. But he can’t even keep his eyes open.

“Boss, it’s killing ya.”

“It’s just a cough.”

“I’ll be dammed.” Jesse picks one of the petals that fell on Gabriel’s thighs before the air sweeps it away. “Genji told me about this, but I thought it was a joke or somethin’.”

“It is a joke.” Gabriel snatches the petal away just to throw it to the air. “I must be getting sick and delusional.”

“It ain’t a joke, I’m seeing it with my own eyes. You should talk to somebody.” Jesse scotches over. “I’m here. I’ll listen.”

Gabriel scoffs and looks at the horizon.

“Is it Jack? Ana?”

Gabriel shakes his head. “I didn’t even know who it was. It just happened. Like a bullet right through my lungs.”

“Must be someone special if they sneaked up on ya, commander.” Jesse also looks at the horizon and misses Gabriel looking at him.

Of course it had to be someone like Jesse. A sharpshooter. Someone as loud as the colors on the petals, but also easy to miss in a crowd. Jesse is vibrant and youthful, the definition of being alive. He lives on the edge and stops for nothing. His wit is as sharp as his aim. His charm smooth as the poppy petals. And Gabriel wonders how his sun kissed lips would feel on his own.

“Maybe it’s happening to ya ‘cause ya a tough person to love?” Jesse suddenly speaks after a few minutes of silence.

“Well, thanks, McCree.”

“Nah, nah, I mean, yer terrifying, yet alluring in that way, boss. You have the world on yer shoulders n’ carry it like it’s nothin’. Of course you’ve important things to do, why would someone be worthy of your attention?”

Gabriel raises an eyebrow. “Why do you make me sound cruel?”

Jesse groans and scratches the back of his head. “Alright, alright. It was like when I joined. I… I might’ve had a lil crush on ya.”

Gabriel couldn’t pretend the surprise in his eyes, yet he managed to grin as if it was a joke. “Really?”

“Yeah. Some people noticed. Said it was cute. I tried to flirt with ya, at first, but knew with my age n’ all—”

“I’d turn you down, I remember.” Gabriel remembers the cheesy pick-up lines. The innuendos and looks, but he always took it as a part of Jesse’s character. He would be like that with Ana too and other agents.

“Then I stopped ‘cause why would someone like you be interested in someone like me, right?” Jesse scoffs.

Gabriel swallows the petals floating to his throat. Of course he never thought of Jesse this way. Not only was he younger, but he was one of his agents. Gabriel has never seen anyone like this because the fear of losing them in war was too big to overcome. He pushed those thoughts away, pushed anyone that would be a possible lover away and focused on his job.

“Ya get it now? Ya never thought of love before, have ya?”

Gabriel shakes his head.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad I pushed those feelings out.” Gabriel looks at him again. “Ya seem like someone I’d easily fall for. Too easy. I’d be coughing up flowers if I hadn’t stopped.”

Gabriel feels betrayed. He feels stolen of something that could have been precious. His words come out as easily as the petals. “Or I wouldn’t be coughing flowers right now.”

He watches Jesse as he doesn’t get it. Then it slowly draws on him as his eyes widen. He faces Gabriel with blushed cheeks and tongue licking his own lips. Gabriel gives him a warm smile and looks at the setting sun because it hurts less to stare at the bright star than at Jesse.

\--

Jesse knocks on the door of Gabriel’s room that night after not saying a word on the roof. His commander opens and sees him flushed. Jesse’s eyes are forged in fire as he looks at his commander and his lips are dry no matter how much his tongue moisturizes them. Before Gabriel can ask what’s wrong, before Jesse’s sweet name comes out of his mouth, Jesse attacks.

He pushes his commander back inside and kisses him as the door closes. His arms are tight around Gabriel’s neck while the older man still stands startled. His eyes remain open as he watches Jesse dive into the passion of the kiss. Once he makes sure Jesse is deep in the trance, Gabriel closes his eyes and takes Jesse in his arms. He breathes deeply, taking in Jesse’s aroma. The rays of sun that have brushed his skin, the smoke of cigars and mint. His skin feels cool and fresh, as if Jesse had just come out of the shower.

Gabriel notices the petals disappear after that night. He can sleep peacefully, with his lover by his side without interruption. The flowers are no longer in him, but he watches Jesse’s love for him bloom everyday they spend together. He sees it when they part ways for days, even a week or too, and Jesse welcomes him. He’s proper, as proper as Jesse McCree is. Then the door to Gabriel’s room closes, and they’re in their secret place.

\--

He moves as slick as smoke feels. He slips through the fingers of his victims and becomes solid once more. Shotgun aiming at their head. He shots and they’re dead. No matter how much they fire at him, the same smoke that helps him move seals the wounds.

He finishes his picks, but he can feel someone else around him. He starts coughing. He has started coughing flower petals again years ago. A month or so before the base in Switzerland went up in flames. He could have the disease taken out of him. But the Hanahaki disease cannot kill what’s already dead.

He lifts his mask and spits the poppy petals out through sharp teeth. He uses one of his claws and picks one out from his throat. They shine like a star over the bricks of the streets of London. He hears heavy footsteps approaching him and covers what’s left of his identity. He turns to the intruder and he can feel his ribcage getting clogged by petals again.

“I once knew a man who coughed flowers,” the velvet voice says through the cowboy’s lips. “I thought I had cured him. Thought I had kissed the poison away.”

“You did,” Reaper growls. “But you were only a short term remedy. Something to ease that toxic air inside of me.”

Jesse McCree, older, maybe not wiser, shakes his head. “There is no cure this time. The man I loved died a long time ago.”

The Arizona Poppy growing in his lungs might as well be a rose. He could feel thorns piercing inside of him, trying to break bones, force him to turn into smoke. “Yes, he suffocated in ashes and flowers.”

**Author's Note:**

> Also, I'm looking for a second beta reader for ['Darlin', Don't you Join In'](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10067171/chapters/22433180) and someone to beta read part 3 of ['Permanent Marks'](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9815966/chapters/22040900) as well, if you're interested, let me know through [tumblr](http://hellagaymccree.tumblr.com/)


End file.
